HICKORY, N.C. --- No. 16/15 Lenoir-Rhyne had to hold off a ninth-inning rally as the Bears edged visiting Tusculum 5-4 Monday afternoon at Durham Field in South Atlantic Conference baseball action.
Lenoir-Rhyne (32-9, 14-4 SAC) takes two of the three games with the Pioneers (23-17, 9-9 SAC) as the Bears' pitching staff limited Tusculum to three hits and a pair of walks.
Wade Cuda went 2-for-4 at the plate including his two-run homer in the second inning to give LR an early 2-0 lead.
Tusculum got a run back in the third when Blaze McCauley got aboard with an infield hit, moved to second on a walk to Zane Keener and both would move into scoring position on a wild pitch. McCauley would trot in with TU's first run of the game on another wild pitch by starter Josh Latham to make it 2-1.
The Bears answered with two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to make it a 5-1 contest. In the fourth, Tyler McPeak led off with a double and moved to third on Cuda's base hit to put runners on the corners. Mason Maxwell drove in a run with his ground out. Cuda would later score on a wild pitch to extend the Lenoir-Rhyne lead to 4-1. The Bears made it 5-1 as LR led off with back-to-back walks and scored an unearned run on a TU throwing error.
Meanwhile, Latham kept the Pioneers at bay as he pitched seven innings where he held TU to one run on a hit, two walks and five strikeouts. Latham would retire the last 12 Tusculum batters he would face before turning things over to Andy Cook, who tossed a perfect eighth inning.
The Pioneers did not go down quietly in the ninth as Keener led off with an infield single and Ben Scartz got aboard on an error to Christian Ortega to the plate. He would take Cook's second offering before blasting a three-run homer to left field to bring Tusculum to within a run at 5-4. Cook got ground out before turning the game over to Spencer Floyd as he ended the game with a ground out and a strikeout to secure his second save of the year.
Latham picked up the win to move to 5-2 on the season while TU starter Trejen Fox-Birdwell suffered the loss to move to 2-2 on the year. Tusculum's Drew Sliwinski went 1.2 innings where he allowed an unearned run on one hit and two walks.
TU closer Jacob Willett pitched masterfully in his 2.2 shutout innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
Keener finished the game with a base hit and a walk to extend his streak to 41 consecutive games of reaching base safely.
The Pioneers return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Lee University for a 6 p.m. contest against the Flames.
